Various efforts have been made in the recent past to incorporate electronic devices into different types of products. For example, simple electronic devices have been placed in various articles of clothing in order to create a unique product having greater consumer appeal. Electronic devices have also been incorporated into products in order to provide a specific function. For instance, those skilled in the art have proposed incorporating electronic devices, including RFID devices, into various packaging for inventory control or for other purposes.
Electric devices have also been proposed for use in portable monitors in the medical care industry. For instance, in one embodiment, the monitor may be placed on a hospital gown or other similar garment and be configured to monitor at least one condition of the patient while allowing the patient to move around the hospital or to be moved within the hospital.
Many electronic devices as described above are constructed to be light weight and as inexpensive as possible. Thus, the devices have been made using flexible substrates, such as paper, woven fabrics, nonwoven fabrics and polymer films. In the past, electrical circuits have been incorporated into the devices by using conductive inks that are printed onto the flexible substrates.
Various problems, however, have been encountered in the past in using conductive inks. For instance, the inks are not only relatively expensive, but problems have been experienced in printing the inks on porous substrates, such as textile materials. When the conductive inks have been printed on porous materials, for instance, the level of electrical conductivity has been excessively degraded. In addition, the printing process typically has to be conducted off-line adding complexity to the manufacturing process and further expense to the overall product.
In view of the above, a need currently exists for a relatively inexpensive way to design and produce electrical circuits for incorporation into various electronic devices.